I give it a B. Its got Bester in it after all! If only Lochley had let Bester take away Byron and his cohorts at the end of it...

Notable things about this episode: Its also the episode that G'Kar becomes Londo's bodyguard, which I thought was a funny idea (in a good way!) and apparently so did G'Kar. And we get Lochley decking Garibaldi.

G'Kar being Londo's bodyguard is always worth a good laugh, i liked it in And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder, when the minister asks how Londo puts up with G'Kar, and G'Kar answers it's hard but i managae, or words to that effect and Londo seems to enjoy that, this for me is where thier relationship enters the phase where i really could see thier eventual deaths as an act of compassion from one friend to another.

JMS' method of dropping hints for several episodes, then resolving them, comes to fruition here - we find out just what kind of relationship Sheridan and Lochley had. There are also new hints of a coming relationship between Lyta and Byron.

Lochley pulls a typical move for a B5 commander - going by the book to achieve something contrary to Earth Gov expectations. Is her friendly attitude to Bester only superficial? I admit to enjoying seeing her give Garibaldi a verbal lashing - he's way too cocksure.

By this time in the series I have joined the rank of those who are throughly tired of the telepaths. The song at the end climaxes that - I don't wish for Bester to take them along, but they have such a chip on their shoulders that they are highly annoying. If they accuse the normals of being prejudiced against them, why are they prejudiced against the normals? Neither chose to be born the way they are!

Ah, the telepaths have started singing ..... I truly dislike that bit. But, I have to say, overall, I kinda like this episode. I actually like the telepath storyline at this point, even with Byron being all Byron-ish. I can't stand how he's so "I'm so very erudite", kind of talking down to people. He's so annoying to Lyta with his ridiculously elaborate "parable" answers to questions. I guess she's used to not getting a straight answer, what with having worked for the Vorlons. Despite the fact that it takes place during the singing, I do like the scene where Lyta takes off her psi corps badge.

Lochley punching Garibaldi is pretty entertaining, although I had grown tired of their antagonistic relationship before this episode.

I will never be a fan of the "Oh yea, we used to be married" thing, and how apparently that's a big secret. Someone must know, even if we assume marriage records aren't public on Earth. Surely someone at ISN would have found out. Also, Garibaldi's "How many wives does he have??" sums it up pretty well. The Anna character fit well into the story, but this first marriage seems sort of invented on the spot to give Sheridan a reason to be able to trust this person who was on the opposite side in the war. I'm not really buying it, either. I wouldn't just automatically trust someone I was married to for 3 months, something like 20 years before. If they didn't know each other well enough to realize they were a terrible match, how can they know each other well enough to really be sure they can trust each other? Also I felt this was a silly reveal that was dragged out WAY too long.

Lochley's job is very thankless, both the character and the actress. The character has to navigate this situation as a new person in an environment where everyone knows each other, and feels loyal to each other. The actress has to make us get over the loss of Ivanova. Obviously that was never going to work. Thankless. Anyway, I don't LOVE her, I don't hate her. She's alright ... Could have done without her being Sheridan's first wife.

I'm a fan of the Londo/G'Kar storyline, but that pretty much goes without saying.

By this time in the series I have joined the rank of those who are throughly tired of the telepaths. The song at the end climaxes that - I don't wish for Bester to take them along, but they have such a chip on their shoulders that they are highly annoying. If they accuse the normals of being prejudiced against them, why are they prejudiced against the normals? Neither chose to be born the way they are!

Before Byron and his cohorts, I didn't like telepaths because of the prison that was the psi-corps. Thanks to Byron, I feel all warm and fuzzy towards Bester and his creepy bloodhounds! At least They. Are. Not. Bloody. Annoying!!! They are just straightforward and stifling Byron's gang are (oh god, the horror...) *singing* in candlelight and being all mysterious and hippie and... I really wonder why they wear only black as it would be much more their style to wear flowy flowery dresses.
Yes, I'm happy for Lyta for finding a gang of her own. I just wish I could like the gang a bit more

Lochley did well with the telepaths; however, it was something Sheridan had told her to do - to find some way to keep them on B5. If it had been up to just her, I wonder: would she have given them to Bester, and no questions asked?
She's probably an honest and what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person, but I'm still not warming up to her... i have a deep distrust of 'by-the-book' persons, at least in fiction (even though sometimes working by-the-book gives great results. Sinclair used following the exact rules of law in By any means necessary, if my memory serves me right).

What do we know of Byron? Bester says "Just keep an eye on them, Captain. Don't trust them for a second, because sooner or later they will turn on you." He addresses Byron. "You know all about that, don't you, Byron?" Is Bester just being Bester, mysteriously ominous - or is there something we should know..?

__________________If the primates that we came from had known that someday politicians would come out of the gene pool, they'd have stayed up in the trees and written evolution off as a bad idea!(Sheridan / A distant star)

What do we know of Byron? Bester says "Just keep an eye on them, Captain. Don't trust them for a second, because sooner or later they will turn on you." He addresses Byron. "You know all about that, don't you, Byron?" Is Bester just being Bester, mysteriously ominous - or is there something we should know..?

You'll find out. Not gonna spoil it for you.

As for them being annoying, I'm always puzzled as to why that is. Seems like everybody who loves how B5 set things up way in advance completely forgot all the horror stories we heard about the Corps in "A Race Through Dark Places". Is there any reason why the telepaths in episode 207 were more sympathetic than the ones in early season 5? Did folks really need to be told those stories all over again?

__________________
"You know, I used to think that life was terribly unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair? If all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." ~~Marcus Cole